Oh yeah, sure.
Now that the Chicago Skyway is finally making money, hand over fist, Indiana wants the federal government to take it over and turn it into a freeway.
Not that Gov. Frank O’Bannon and Indiana transportation officials don’t make some good points in their appeal to Washington. The toll-free Interstate Highways 80/94 (aka the Frank Borman/Bishop Ford Expressways) are chronically choked with traffic, undergoing repair and in need of relief.
That’s one reason the Skyway, Chicago’s 7.8-mile shortcut connecting the Dan Ryan Expressway to the Indiana Toll Road, is doing so well. It’s a good way to avoid the I-80/94 jams. Another reason is the growing popularity of weekend getaways to the “Irish Riviera” along Lake Michigan’s east coast. And, of course, there’s the rousing success of northwest Indiana’s string of casino gambling boats, all situated so as to extract the maximum amount of money from Illinois wallets.
Regarding the latter, one could argue that the Skyway’s $2-per-car (more for trucks) toll is small recompense for the heavily taxed fortunes that Chicago residents are leaving behind aboard the Trump Casino and Majestic Star in Gary and the Empress Casino in Hammond. No question which jurisdiction is getting the better of that exchange.
Besides, from the Chicago point of view, this is payback time for Cinderella. Before traffic began to build in the late ’80s, the Skyway was the punch line of jokes told at accountants’ conventions. Despite numerous toll increases since it opened in 1959, the elevated roadway produced barely enough revenue to make interest payments to its bondholders. Over those lean years, what was supposed to be a pay-as-you-go operation ended up bleeding city coffers for upkeep, policing and legal work to fend off creditors.
Now the Skyway is making so much money that the original bonds were paid off last year with proceeds of a new bond issue–a $180 million recapitalization that includes a phased rebuilding of the road, enhanced reserve and operating funds as well as $52 million for local street improvements elsewhere in the city. That last item may have raised eyebrows on the Indiana side, for it means the city also may apply future excess Skyway revenues to local needs.
But how about sharing some of the wealth with longtime patrons of the Skyway by, say, lowering the toll to $1.50?
The city might be pleasantly surprised at the result.
